Acosta plays down DNA test, insists parents identified 'Kulot'

MANILA, Philippines – Public Attorney’s Office Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta on Monday asserted that the body found in a creek in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija was 14-year old Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman.

In a text message to Philstar.com, Acosta said: “Si Kulot yun. May picture kami. May marks na identified ng parents. Yung kulugo at peklat.”

The PNP on Monday said that, based on DNA tests, the body found floating in Kinamatayang Kabayo creek on September 5 is not of De Guzman. The body bore close to 30 stab wounds and the head was wrapped in packaging tape and cloth..

But Acosta insisted that the body was Kulot’s. “Hindi naman decomposed ang mukha,” she added.

She further dismissed the findings of the PNP as “non-conclusive.”

“Kasi di compatible sa appearance ng bangkay yung result nila,” she added.
De Guzman was last seen with 19-year-old Carl Arnaiz, who was purportedly killed in a shootout with Caloocan police last August 18. Arnaiz allegedly robbed a taxi driver in Caloocan and fired at responding police, prompting the authorities to fire back.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II earlier ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a separate probe on the slay of De Guzman and Arnaiz.

Acosta, in a press briefing on Monday morning, said that the NBI is almost done in its reports on the wounds of De Guzman and Arnaiz. She said that the NBI is due to submit its affidavit to the DOJ.

She however did not give a definite timeline on when the report will be submitted.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Sept. 8 warned that the recent spate of slay of teenagers is a “sabotage” to the government’s intensified war against illegal drugs that has killed thousands since it started last June 2016.